"We could feel the momentum building the last few weeks," head coach Beth Launiere said. "We had a good week in practice. We knew we could hold opponents in hitting, and we made a conscious effort to play defense tonight. Our two goals were to hold them in hitting, and the second was to win long rallies. We knew UNLV was a good defensive team and we did win the long rallies.

"We have been working hard but needed to believe in ourselves, and we did that tonight."

The Utes (12-14, 8-7 MWC) held the Rebels to a .144 hitting percentage. UNLV (12-3, 21-4) came into the game with a .253 hitting percentage. Connie Dangerfield led Utah in digs, with a season-best 29.

Down 28-24 in game one, Utah rallied to score the next five straight points and pull ahead for the 31-29 win. Webb had three of her six kills, as well as a block assist, in game one in the final drive, including the tying and winning points. Haynie had four kills in the first game.

In game two, the Utes led by as many as four points in the contest. Tied 26-26, UNLV had two block assists from Lauren Miramontes and Maria Aladjova as part of a four-point drive to give the Rebels the 30-26 win, tying the match at 1-1.

Up by a point in game three, 18-17, Utah reeled off the next four points to go ahead by five, 22-17, giving the Utes control. Webb had two kills and Robison hit one in the span. UNLV would come no closer than three points the remainder of the way in the 30-24 victory.

The Utes quickly took control in game four, jumping out to a 10-3 lead before cruising to a 30-18 win. Robison tallied six kills in the final game, while Dangerfield had eight digs.

Aladjova led UNLV with 19 kills while Miramontes had 13. Camille Cunningham led the Rebels with 19 digs and Melody Nua tallied 43 assists.

Tonight's win locks up the fifth seed in the conference tournament for the Utes.

Utah returns to the court on Saturday, Nov. 17, for its final home match of the season against San Diego State beginning at 7 p.m. Utah's four seniors, Dangerfield, Webb, Robison and Hilary Taylor will be honored in a pre-match ceremony.